Ameriabank intends to increase its card portfolio by 30% by yearend 2014

by
Gayane Isahakyan

Wednesday, July 2, 20:21

Ameriabank intends to increase its card portfolio by 30% by the yearend 2014, Mr. Arman Barseghyan, Retail Banking Director at Ameriabank, said at a press conference on Wednesday.

"Card business development is a priority of the Bank. We have created very convenient service conditions for our customers. From now on they can make use of the 24/7 card service system from any point of the planet by dialing the round-the-clock 561111 number", said Barseghyan. He added that the customers can also make money transfers from the card accounts and make use of the Online Ameriabank service.

For his part, Mr. Tigran Jrbashyan, Development Director at Ameriabank, said that the peculiarity of Ameriabank's card business is that the Bank's customers mostly focus on non-cash payments. "The Bank holds no leading position by the number of issued cards but it is in the lead in the amount of non-cash plastic transactions", said Jrbashyan.

In the first half of 2014 the number of cards rose by 50% and the amount of non-cash plastic transactions grew by 40% as compared with the first half of 2013. According to the Analytical Review "Armenian Banks in Card Business" prepared by the Agency of Rating Marketing Information (ArmInfo), Ameriabank is among the top 10 by the number of its active cards - over 55 thsd cards as of 1 April 2014 (almost 40% year-over-year growth), including nearly 36 thsd VISA, about 12 thsd local ArCa, and over 7 thsd MasterCards. As compared with the same period of 2013, the Bank increased the number of local cards almost 2-fold, and the number of VISA cards by almost 33%. The share of payroll cards was 39% (58% year-over-year growth) of the total active cards of the Bank. The Bank is also among the top 10 by the amount of its plastic transactions (nearly 78 bln in 2013, 6.6% year-over-year growth). Ameriabank holds the third position by the number of its own POS terminals (651) and is among the top 5 by the number of its ATMs (98). Most of the ATMs (73) are in Yerevan (2nd position in the banking system). The Bank has come close to the top 5 by the amount of funds on the credit cards (including overdrafts) with 10.5 bln AMD (40% year-over-year growth). Along with local ArCa cards, the Bank issues and services international VISA and MasterCards.